Defense atones for Railers' offensive sins

Wednesday

Feb 20, 2013 at 5:47 AMFeb 20, 2013 at 5:47 AM

By Mark Schnabel?Newton Kansan

The Newton High School girls’ basketball team wrapped up the top seed in its Class 5A sub-state pool with a 57-30 win over Hutchinson Tuesday in Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League play at Ravenscroft Gym.?Newton, 16-3 overall and 9-2 in AV-CTL I play, held Hutchinson to 10 points in the second half.?“I challenged each of them down the line individually,” Newton coach Randy Jordan said. “I told them what I saw, what they can do and what Hutch is doing to them. ... We got outplayed in every aspect of the game in the first half — every loose ball, every rebound. Our intensity on defense in the second half is what helped us. We got in the passing lanes in the second half, getting easy baskets off steals. We took better shots in the second half.”?Newton was led by Kelsi Langley with 13 points, followed by Abbie Lehman with 12 and Emily Hiebert with 10. All three are seniors who were honored on senior night.?“I just got tired of getting pushed around by them.” Langley said. “I like it when we get lots of steals. Luckily Abbie was right behind me, because I don’t always make (the layups). We just had to play with more intensity. We’re excited about getting the number one seed. That gets us one step closer to state.”?“I haven’t had to play too many players as tall as I am, so it was tough in the first half,” Lehman said. “Coach (Jamie) Dibbens told me to keep my hands up. They also had me fronting (McKinna Kraus), making it harder to get the ball into her. The coach challenged us at halftime to play like we’re capable of. We still have Maize Friday. They beat us the last time. We’ll be ready for them.”?Hutchinson, 6-13 overall and 2-9 in AV-CTYL I play, was led by Kraus with seven points, six in the first half.?Newton got off to a slow start early, falling behind 4-3. A Jacque Anderson trey sparked a 5-0 Railer run, but Hutchinson finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 12-10.?Down by four in the second quarter, Newton pulled away by three at the half, 23-20.?Hutchinson was 10 for 17 shooting in the first half while Newton was 10 of 23.?Kelsi Langley opened the third quarter with a pair of layups off Hutchinson turnovers. Newton held Hutchinson to four of five free throws in the period. A Taylor Stahly trey at the buzzer put Newton up by 11, 36-25.?Newton opened the fourth quarter with a 10-1 run, hitting six of six from the free throw line. Hutchinson hit its first field goal of the second half with 4:50 remaining in regulation.?“We attacked the rim and got fouled in the second half,” Jordan said. “We were settling for silly shots in the first half. I told Kelsi, she’s a 50 percent shooter inside the arc. She started driving. We stepped up in the second half.”?Newton ends the regular season at 6 p.m. Friday at top-ranked (KBCA, Class 6A) Maize. The Eagles fell to Salina Central 40-33 Tuesday, their first loss in league play. A Railer win would give Newton a share of the AV-CTL I title.?“We have a chance to go to Maize and compete for the league title,” Jordan said. “We just have to wait on who will be the two, three and four seeds. It’s a mess there. We’ve won at Maize before. It’s not foreign to us. We have to make them guard us and not settle for any shot. Our defense has kept us in a lot of games when our offense has struggled. We’ve held a lot of teams to record lows for them. We have to take care of the ball and apply pressure on them.”